JSWGAS Chapter 25

“You’ve been quite free lately.”

“…You’re the last person who should be saying that.”

After a day of hard work, the three of them gathered in front of the 7-Eleven near the gymnasium. Kokonoe Taka and Oikawa Tōru came out first, standing at the entrance, wolfing down their food while waiting for Iwaizumi Hajime, who was still inside the store.

Kokonoe Taka twitched the corner of his mouth, feeling helpless, “Don’t I accompany you guys to the gym to practice every time? How is that being free?”

Oikawa Tōru was munching on a milk bread, “I’m not talking about that…” He paused slightly, “You haven’t been playing tennis lately, and when I went to your house the day before yesterday, I didn’t see your racket or shoes.”

“…”

“Don’t give me excuses like ‘I quit the tennis club, so I don’t need them.'” Oikawa Tōru shook his head smugly, “I really didn’t see anything, okay? There’s nothing related to tennis in your room at all, not even the medals in the cabinet are there.”

Kokonoe Taka took a bite of a chocolate bar, “When did you go snooping?”

“When you were called down by Kokonoe Grandfather!” Oikawa Tōru didn’t give him a chance to avoid the question, “Okay, tell me, tell me.”

“Tell you what… Tōru, you’re really too overbearing about this.” Kokonoe Taka scratched his head, “It’s nothing much, the coach just wants me to take some time to adjust my condition.”

“That doesn’t mean you have to put away all the related stuff, it feels more like you’re cutting ties with tennis completely—ah, Koiwa, over here, over here!” Oikawa Tōru waved to Iwaizumi, who was walking out of the convenience store.

Iwaizumi walked over and sat down next to Kokonoe Taka, “Here.” He handed Kokonoe a can of orange soda.

“Thanks.”

“What about mine?”

“Go buy it yourself.”

“Koiwa, that’s preferential treatment!” Oikawa Tōru puffed up his cheeks and stuffed the milk bread down in three or two bites, secretly observing his friend next to him—then, after the crisp sound of the soda can being opened, he swiftly snatched the soda from Kokonoe Taka’s hand.

“Yay!”

Iwaizumi calmly said, “Need any help?”

Kokonoe Taka smiled, “I can handle it myself.”

He was startled when Oikawa Tōru suddenly grabbed the soda, and instinctively let go of it, resulting in his hand being covered in sticky liquid. At this moment, he gently pressed down on Oikawa, who was tilting his head back to drink—

“Pfft!”

Oikawa Tōru coughed from being pressed down, his face flushed red and his eyes watery, seemingly one step away from choking to death.

Kokonoe Taka considerately offered to help him take that final step.

“You really like drinking it?” He asked kindly, “Do you need my help to just drown you in carbonated drinks?”

Oikawa Tōru: “…”

Iwaizumi: “That’s too wasteful, just throw him into the sea.”

Oikawa Tōru: “I get it! I’m sorry, Taka! I’ll buy you the milk chocolate you were craving before tomorrow!”

“I want the most expensive one.”

“Eh!?”

Iwaizumi mocked Oikawa Tōru for bringing it on himself, and then took out tissues from his bag and handed them to Kokonoe Taka. The latter thanked him and slowly began to wipe his hands.

“You guys have a competition next week, right?”

“Next Tuesday.” Iwaizumi answered, “The Miyagi Prefecture Qualifying Tournament for the All-Junior High Tournament. You have to play a maximum of four games to get the qualifying spot.”

“Eh, going to the national tournament? Can you win?”

“The first round opponent is Yoshii, and if we beat them, we’ll face Shiratorizawa…” Iwaizumi explained a bit more, “Shiratorizawa High School is a very famous volleyball powerhouse.”

Oikawa Tōru secretly swiped Iwaizumi’s tissue and chimed in, “I’m a bit concerned about Shiratorizawa. They say they have a really amazing spiker this year, with terrifying power…plus, he’s a left-hander, so his spikes are hard to receive.”

Kokonoe Taka glanced at his expression: “…That expression of yours doesn’t look like you’re troubled.”

Oikawa Tōru blinked.

Just as Kokonoe Taka said, he looked eager to try, his eyes shining, impatiently waiting for the upcoming match.

“Oops, I’ve been found out.”

Iwaizumi finished his drink, got up to throw the empty bottle into the trash can, and turned back to yell, “Hurry up and go home! If you secretly train more these days, I’m going to beat you up!”

“Don’t always say you’re going to beat me up!”

……

…………

A few days passed quickly. On the day of the competition, Kokonoe Taka temporarily took on the role of a support staff member. He boarded the bus with everyone as if he were a member of the volleyball club.

The volleyball coach was quite familiar with this extra member who had been brought in by Oikawa so often recently, so he turned a blind eye and tacitly allowed him to sit in the back row with the two of them.

Although the others had seen this popular figure quite a few times, very few of them could talk to him.

“How should I put it…”

The middle blocker sitting in the front row glanced at the back row, “Kokonoe is the type that saying hello is the limit, I feel.”

“I know, I know! Very imposing…or rather, very unapproachable?” The spiker whispered, “I heard he was very popular in the tennis club before he quit.”

“Speaking of which, why did he quit the club?”

“It seems like he had a pretty serious hand injury. Didn’t he take almost a month off some time ago?”

“Ah? I thought he went to compete again like before.”

“Are you stupid? What kind of competition takes a month?”

“No, mainly because he didn’t seem to have any major problems when he trained with us these past few days. When Oikawa urged him to spike, he jumped even higher than me…”

“And there are a lot of girls at the door when we train.” He said solemnly, “Oikawa went to ask, and it seems like they’re all here to see Kokonoe.”

“…But in the end, those girls were chatting happily with Oikawa, right?”

One of them mimicked in a low voice: “Saying—‘Although Kokonoe-kun is very handsome, I don’t really dare to talk to him, I’m satisfied as long as I can take a look from afar’…”

“‘But it’s really fun to chat with Oikawa-kun’—something like that.”

“…”

A group of people fell silent.

Damn it, this damn popular guy!

Another middle blocker summarized dryly, “Even though he has an advantageous face like Oikawa, it seems like he’s not as popular as Oikawa.”

The air stilled slightly.

“Oikawa is that frivolous Oikawa, you know?” The first middle blocker to speak looked complex, “And among these three—” He nudged the back with his mouth, “—if we’re only talking about popularity, I guess Iwaizumi is more popular after all.”

“That makes sense.”

“That’s Iwaizumi after all.”

The others agreed with a look of approval.

“…But when it comes to girls, it’s Oikawa after all…”

“…Don’t remind us of that fact!”

The middle blocker who reminded them of this cruel fact was beaten up.

And the last row was having the same conversation as the front.

“The number of girls who come to the volleyball club to see Oikawa-sama has decreased a lot recently.” Oikawa Tōru reached out and opened the car window, saying this while enjoying the refreshing wind outside.

“…”

Kokonoe Taka handed over the water bottle at hand without changing his expression, indicating that Iwaizumi could use this as a murder weapon, “Please.”

Iwaizumi sneered twice, holding up the bottle, ready to strike. Oikawa Tōru gasped repeatedly, shrinking in terror next to the window, “I’m sorry! But I’m telling the truth! And Taka, haven’t you been getting more and more rude to me lately!”

Thinking that they still had to rely on this frivolous guy for the competition later, Iwaizumi finally put down his weapon: “There’s no need to be soft on you.” He looked at Kokonoe with approval.

Oikawa Tōru was revived with full health after the threat disappeared: “I haven’t finished yet. The number of girls who come to see me has decreased a lot because a lot of girls are coming to see Taka these days, right.”

Kokonoe Taka adjusted his earphones, looking at him blankly when he heard this, “Huh?”

Oikawa Tōru: “…”

Oikawa Tōru: “Seriously, you haven’t noticed?”

Iwaizumi quipped: “Who would be like you…”

Kokonoe Taka fell into thought: “It seems like a lot of people used to come to watch when I played tennis too.”

Oikawa Tōru blinked: “Then isn’t that right?”

Kokonoe Taka: “So?”

Oikawa Tōru: “—So, although they’re here to see you now, after seeing the handsome figure of Oikawa-sama playing volleyball, they will definitely turn around and cheer for me—”

Kokonoe Taka recited: “Is this considered a declaration of war?”

Iwaizumi: “Trash River.”

Oikawa Tōru: “No, no, no, how could it be! Besides, a dummy like Taka doesn’t care about this at all.” He raised his index finger, shaking it slightly, a restless smile on his face, not seeing Kokonoe Taka’s threatening squint, a look on his face that said, ‘Who are you calling a dummy?’

“Taka, you have to watch carefully, the way Oikawa-sama shines on the court—” He received the gaze of another childhood friend, reluctantly changing his words, “Ah, add Koiwa too, I guess.”

“So confident?”

“Of course, this is my favorite thing.” Oikawa Tōru hummed twice, “I’ll definitely win.”

…So, you have to watch carefully.

“Volleyball is very interesting.”

“That’s the first sensible thing you’ve said today.”

“?! That’s too much! Don’t expel me from the human race at will!”

Amid the noise that started again around him, Kokonoe Taka avoided Oikawa Tōru’s shockingly bright eyes as if he was being stung.

It was like someone stumbling in the darkness suddenly seeing a ray of light ahead, without the stinging pain to the eyes brought by the sudden burst of light. Instead, it was the gentle and soft felt and a log cabin with a burning fireplace.

He was so firm, confident, and passionately inviting him to his side. The pure smile was like a star falling in the night, illusory and real.

Following his words, perhaps…

He vaguely realized that this was the closest he had ever been to the answer. So he gazed at him, and when Oikawa Tōru looked back with a knowing look, he calmly lowered his head again. The headphones hanging around his neck were playing a symphony of undulating waves, sometimesInspiring, sometimesSorrowful and low.

“We’re here.”

Someone said, and the car slowly stopped amid the teenagers’ noise. The air outside the window was fresh, and unknown birds were singing sweetly. The gymnasium stood quietly not far away, waiting silently for the teenagers to cross the threshold.

Kokonoe Taka looked up. He wasn’t unfamiliar with this place, having been here once or twice, but at that time he was often alone.

Iwaizumi stood behind him, as if he had given up trying to tie down Oikawa Tōru, who had rushed to the front to lead the way. He gently pushed Kokonoe Taka’s shoulder, waking him from his dazed state.

Then, he strode forward.

As he brushed past him, he didn’t turn his head, only his voice fell in his ear.

“Watch carefully.”

Kokonoe Taka was left alone, staring blankly at his straight back.

“Since Iwaizumi said so…” He smiled and chased after him.

“Looks like I have to watch seriously after all.”